Adventure, mystery, and wild creatures all play a part in Gloria Repp's many books. She grew up in the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Northwest, and it was there she learned a love for wilderness that pervades her stories. Over the years, her experiences gained from raising three children, teaching school, and editing have made useful contributions to her work. Gloria often finds intriguing details for her books when she explores the forests of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. As she wrote this story, which reaches back to Revolutionary War days, she drew inspiration from the mysterious tumbled ruins that lie beneath the pines.